Meet the new sneakerheads

Longtime collector Chris Datoc of Alamo displays his Air Jordans during during KicksFest San Francisco at the San Mateo Expo enter.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 2 collection for Adidas was one of the hottest shows at New York Fashion Week, but its sizzle had little to do with the clothes. The pieces that captured the attention of fashion insiders and fans were the collection’s latest Yeezy Boost sneakers.

While the apparel at Yeezy may get scoffs, the rollouts of the Yeezy sneakers, and other styles, are major events: People camp in front of stores overnight, and the shoes sell out there and online in minutes. The shoes retail in the $350 to $400 range, but their limited runs mean they can command far more as they’re resold privately.

“It’s crazy what things resell for and how quickly the prices can rise after something sells out in stores,” said Ray Tabuena, the organizer of the first Bay Area KicksFest, “but it’s no longer surprising.”

It’s not just the Boost that has footwear fans rolling out of sleeping bags on release day. Sneakers are the It shoe. With celebrity super collectors like Andre Iguodala, Justin Bieber, Pharrell, Jay-Z, Eminem and Oakland A’s third-baseman Brett Lawrie wearing their favorites in the spotlight and sharing them on Instagram; a Brooklyn Museum exhibition “The Rise of Sneaker Culture” drawing crowds; and the athleisure trend holding fast in mainstream fashion, there’s never been a better time to be a sneakerhead.

And sneakerheads are starting young these days. Having grown up with sneaker culture, Millennials, like Gen X-ers before them, don’t mind investing the time or the money that goes into building a collection — and they’re passing that mentality to the next generation.

In August, Tabuena played hosted to 1,000-plus sneakerheads at the San Mateo County Event Center at the first KicksFest. The one-day event, which cost $25, included over two dozen Bay Area vendors selling fan favorites Nike, Adidas, Reebok and other brands; sneaker customizers; exhibitions of private collections; and a contest for attendees to show off their most prized pairs. The event was half commerce, half community as sneakerheads sold, traded and networked their way through the event center.

“The sneaker world is small,” Tabuena said. “We sell to each other, people stand in lines together, you get to know what people like, what they sell, what they keep.”

The world of sneakerheads might be small, but the demographics continue to expand as evidenced by a number of KicksFest attendees as young as middle-school age. Where once the high sneaker prices might have been considered too steep for your average teenager — classic, ever-popular Nike Air Jordan and Kobes now reach into the thousands of dollars at auction and in private sales — Tabuena says today’s teens are used to shelling out a few hundred dollars for shoes. They see it as an investment.

“A lot of us started collecting at that age,” Tabuena said. “But these new younger guys are out there buying, reselling and are more advanced in the way they look for certain limited editions, different styles. They’re like entrepreneurs in a way.” And with online tools helping connect them, resale has never been easier.

Dominic Susa, 16, of Belmont, came to KicksFest with resale on the mind. He and friend James Houston, 15 and also from Belmont, were each trying to sell a pair of white Pinnacle 1s.

Shoe retailer the Fix of Alameda shrink-wraps its shoes at KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup of collectors selling or trading athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

“I also have a pair of the new Yeezy Boost,” Susa said. “I got up at 5 a.m. to be among the first. They were bought to sell.” Susa and Houston have been collecting for about three years and discovered the world of sneakerheads together. Susa’s parents helped him purchase his first pair of Jordans, and with what he made reselling them, he was able to pay them back and reinvest in more sneakers.

“I’m only buying if these sell for a lot of money,” Susa said. “Some of the prices here are higher than I thought, but hopefully that will work for me when I sell.”

Michael Javier, 16, of Richmond, is primarily a Jordans and Kobe collector — but he wasn’t looking to buy at KicksFest. Javier and his father, Ray, were manning a vendor booth for Have Air Customs, his sneaker customizing business that he operates online and out of his bedroom.

“I started collecting when I was in junior high,” said Javier, who estimates he has about 30 pairs. “By eighth grade I was customizing my sneakers myself, to save money. In high school it got noticed a lot and people asked me to trick out their sneakers, then it became a business.” Among the customized pieces Javier was selling was a pair of Jordans with Drake lyrics written on them and a pair of star graffitied Galaxy LeBrons. Aside from his friends and classmates, customers primarily find him online and through Instagram.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 16: Kanye West poses during the finale of Yeezy Season 2 during New York Fashion Week at Skylight Modern on September 16, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Randy Brooke/Getty Images for Kanye West Yeezy)

Photo: Randy Brooke, (Credit too long, see caption)

Michael Nou, 32, of Walnut Creek has been collecting since 1998 and is part of the team at Walnut Creek store Sneaker Court. Among the sneakers on display in Sneaker Court’s vendor booth was a pair of Nike SB Dunk Stained Glass Holy Grail sneakers presented in the original box, which mimicked a stained-glass rose window.

“They were originally $150 retail,” Nou said. “We’re only asking $300. They were just released a month ago.” The biggest change Nou has noticed in the sneaker world is that, “When I was growing up, this really wasn’t seen as cool, collecting sneakers. Now look around — we have our own ComicCon thing happening here.”

Meet the new sneakerheads

1of11Shoe varieties on display at the Sneaker Court table during KicksFest San Francisco, a show for buying, selling or trading of athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29 in San Mateo.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

2of11Collector Don C. of San Francisco (right), negotiates a trade with Dominic Susa, 15 (left) and James Houston, 15 (center), both from Belmont, during KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup of collectors selling or trading of athletic footwear event at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

3of11Michael Nou’s stained glass “Holy Grail” Nike shoes came in a special matching box, seen during the KicksFest San Francisco event.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

4of11Collector Eric Hsieh of Irvine, with a 1985 original canvas Air Jordan (left) and a Air Jordan Kobe Bryant 8, seen during KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup of collectors selling or trading of athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

5of11James Houston, 15, (left) with an Nike Air Jordan 1 Pinnacle and Dominic Suza, 15, of Petaluma, holds an Adidas Yeezy Boost, KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup of collectors selling or trading athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

6of11Collector Ace Cervantes, of Newark holds a promo shoe that was given away to guests at the album release party for rapper Eminem in 2006 (left) and a 1990 Air Jordan No. 5 model at KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup of collectors selling or trading athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center on Aug. 29.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

7of11Mike Blanchard of San Bruno, the owner of Redwood SF, with his truck load of shoes as he gets set for KicksFest San Francisco, a meetup for buying, selling or trading athletic footwear at the San Mateo County Expo Center.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

8of11Logan Lowe, 13, of Petaluma, browses the tables filled with shoes, during KicksFest San Francisco.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

10of11Michael Javier of Richmond displays his original designs he created on a Nike Air Jordan (left) with lyrics from rapper Drake and a LeBron James Nike he calls Galaxy, during KicksFest San Francisco in San Mateo.Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Academy of Art University merchandising student Kai Tai is one sneakerhead who let his passion for Jordans and Kobes take him in a design-oriented direction. Tai, who came to San Francisco from Taiwan two years ago, remembers getting his first pair of Jordans at age 12 and “sleeping in them for a few nights.”

Even though Jordans were his first, however, Kobes remain his shoe of choice: “Part of why I wanted to study abroad here was to see him play,” he says of Kobe Bryant. Tai’s new Kai Sneaker line, being sold at the Academy of Art’s Shop657, comprises 100 pairs with designs referencing Taiwanese deities on classic high-tops. As a sneakerhead, he knew he wanted to incorporate “some of the tech aspects of a classic Kobe. But also, sneakers now can be so much more personal, which is part of why I wanted to do something traditional Taiwanese.”

As KicksFest wound down, most left the event center with at least one or two boxes of sneakers, while others were happy to have unloaded the pairs they brought to sell. That was all part of Tabuena’s vision for KicksFest: The most desired sneakers of the past few seasons under one roof with no overnight camping required.

Tony Bravo is a Style reporter and frequent contributor to Datebook and Green State. Bravo has been the New York Fashion Week correspondent since 2013 and specializes in stories about the cultural impact of clothing. He is an adjunct instructor at the City College of San Francisco Fashion Department and a fourth-generation San Franciscan.